


The Terrier

by adenei



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27511321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adenei/pseuds/adenei
Summary: Ron casts his first corporeal patronus!
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 6
Kudos: 25
Collections: The Troublesome Terrier





	1. The Terrier

“You did it!” Hermione exclaimed as Ron had formed his first real corporeal patronus. A small dog, a jack russell terrier, was it? Had appeared from the end of his wand and was now prancing around the room. 

The terrier looked around then as Ron watched on with an overabundance of glee, spurred on by Hermione’s excitement. After all, it was she he’d thought of to make the terrier appear. The dog spotted Hermione then, and in an odd turn of events, ran over to her and nuzzled her leg, if a patronus could nuzzle, of course. Hermione giggled as she leaned down to pat it’s head, before remembering it wasn’t an actual dog.

“Aw, Hermione, he really likes you, doesn’t he?” Luna asked sincerely.

The twins and Ginny could be heard sniggering behind them and Ron was snapped out of his gleeful state, making the dog disappear.

“I- wha- no- that’s not-” Ron stuttered.

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m pretty sure Luna meant the dog…” she said to him. 

Luckily for Ron, Hermione had become distracted by his patronus and was trying to focus on producing her own again, so she didn’t hear Ginny’s comment. Of course she didn’t want to be outperformed by Ron. 

“I hope my patronus is cute like that,” Hermione lamented. “That was really well done, Ron! What did you think of?”

“Oh, er, watching the Quidditch World Cup, making prefect..” Ron mumbled as his face continued to burn scarlet. 

Hermione somehow believed his lie as she pouted. “I’ve tried all that and it’s not doing the trick for me. I guess I’ll just have to try harder,” she said as she refocused her energy and returned to her spell casting. Despite Ron’s relief, everyone who had witnessed the exchange seemed to groan, whether internally or externally.

“That was a nice try, Luna,” Ginny said.

“Well, the terrier did seem to like Hermione. I can’t wait to see what hers turns out to be,” Luna responded as they fell back into the rhythm of practice once more.


	2. The Terrier's Payback

Payback  
Ron was still mortified at the end of the DA lesson about the whole patronus incident. No one bothered to listen or believe him because they were all laughing uncontrollably or disgusted by his terrier’s actions. He was walking down the corridor when he heard sniggering coming from around the corner. It sounded like Fred and George.

“That was priceless.” Fred said.

“Yeah, it was good for a laugh, but it backfired dinn’it?” George responded.

“What d’you mean? It’s not like they were going to get any closer after the first one anyhow. I’m sure Hermione didn’t pick up on either hint. They’re both so daft,” Fred said.

Of course it was those two. But what the hell kind of charm did they use on my patronus? Ron was intending to go to the common room to take a nap and avoid derisive looks until dinner, but he’d changed course and headed straight for the library. He set his bag down at a table and went to look for every book on patronuses that he could find. Ron was determined to figure out what the hell the twins had used to manipulate his patronus like that. It was clearly possible.

Ron spent the better part of an hour skimming indexes and reading up on anything that came close to what he’d witnessed. Finally, he’d found the answer he was looking for. Some witches and wizards placed cheering charms on their patronuses to extend its life in a single use for various reasons. Early guards of Azkaban were some of the main people when they had to make sure the dementors could maintain the responsibility.

The cheering charm would allow the patronus to continue feeding off of the happy thought without having to continually think of the memory. And then, Ron had read of instances of a charm that modified the Imperius curse, allowing the caster to give the patronus directions of certain actions to do while in it’s corporeal state. It was known as a compelling charm, which would essentially compel the object in question to do what the witch or wizard wanted.

So Ron took the book that had the charms, checked it out and headed back to the Room of Requirement to practice before he attempted his revenge. It took a few attempts, since he was technically casting several charms in close succession, but Ron was pleased when he was finally able to cast it. He checked his watch and was happy to see they still had an hour before dinner, so he hurried on his way back to the common room.

When he walked through the portrait hole, he surveyed the room. Harry and Hermione were sitting on their preferred side of the room, while Fred and George were on the far side with Lee. They didn’t notice him walk in as he went and sat next to Harry. Hermione continued focusing on her work, not paying Ron much mind.

Ron made sure that the twins weren’t paying attention when he nudged Harry and said, “Watch this.” He cast expecto patronum first, immediately followed by the cheering charm and then the compelling charm once the terrier had formed.

“Er, Ron, I already saw your patronus today...it’s brilliant, don’t get me wrong, but nothing new,” Harry said.

Ron didn’t respond because he needed to keep his focus as he thought of what he wanted the dog to do. He watched the terrier prance over to the twins, and had it pace around their feet. 

When they noticed, Ron heard Fred say, “Aw, the little guy’s out to play again!”

“Better be careful, Fred, he might attack your leg, too,” George said.

That was all Ron needed to compel the terrier on what to do next. He watched as the dog yipped at the twins, turned to the side, and lifted it’s leg as a wispy stream jetted from it’s underbelly. 

The twins jumped up and out of the way, despite the fact that it wasn’t actually real urine, and the rest of the common room roared with laughter. Ron lost it too, and with a flick of his wand released the charm and watched the dog disappear.

“That was a good one, mate!” Harry said through his gasps of breath.

“Thanks,” Ron said with a wicked grin. I had to get them back somehow from earlier!”

Hermione was trying hard to suppress her own giggles. “Earlier?” Ron pretended like he’d just noticed she was paying attention.

“Well, yeah, they were the ones who charmed the terrier to do, er,” he rubbed the back of his neck as his ears turned red. 

Hermione’s face displayed a look of understanding as was able to finish Ron’s sentence in her own thoughts. “Oh! Well done, Ron. That can’t have been easy spellwork,” she commented.

Ron shrugged, “Nah, just three charms consecutively. Only took a few attempts to get it.”

Hermione stared at him incredulously. “Ron, that’s really complex!” And he was acting like it was no big deal.

Ron waved her off, pretending as though her praise wasn’t anything special as his stomach did a somersault and his heart beat harder in his chest. He was quite proud of the fact that he’d sought revenge on the twins and impressed Hermione all in one day. Maybe fifth year was finally looking up.


End file.
